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A protest march kicked off from the Republic Square of Yerevan and headed for the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The protesters demand to review the precautionary measure sanctioned against Armenian businessman Levon Hayrapetyan in Russian custody.

Protesters first gathered in front of the Foreign Ministry and chanted slogans “Freedom”, “Free our beneficiary”. They also called on the relevant bodies to end inaction and make use of every channel to free Hayrapetyan.

One of the organizers of the protest march lawyer Haykaz Makaryan told reporters that Hayrapetyan’s detention is linked to several Armenian officials.

“You would probably recall Hayrapetyan’s statement at Veterans’ meeting about the unbearable situation in Armenia. Right after that he was detained at Moscow Domodedovo airport,” noted Makaryan, hinting at ‘obvious linkage’ between Hayrapetyan’s statement and his detention.

Participants of the protest are going to hand a letter to the MFA representative then to move to the Embassy of the Russian Federation.

Levon Hayrapetyan’s daughter, Zaruhi, was seen among the protests. The latter told Panorama.am reporter that his father suffers from a sickness and that She has seen him during the New Year.

To remind, Levon Hayrapetyan, a prominent Armenian businessman living in Russia, was found guilty for embezzlement of $700,000 by Zamoskvoretsky District Court verdict issued on April 14.
Hayrapetyan had been with embezzling $700,000 from Bashkistan’s senator Igor Izmestyev who is currently serving a life term for terrorism. The businessman has repeatedly pleaded not guilty. According to his lawyer, the case had been framed up.

Earlier the prosecutor asked the court to sentence Hayraperyan to 7 years in prison
Hayrapetyan has been under house arrest since July 17, 2014.  He was charged with two counts of embezzlement: those of the funds sold by the company Bashneft, and an amount of $700,000, which he allegedly received from the mother of Igor Izmestev, a former senator of Bashkortostan. Later on the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation did not confirm the charges in the first case and only the episode of embezzlement of funds from former senator Igor Izmestev remained under criminal investigation.